MUSKEGON COUNTY, MI -- It’s déjà vu all over again with the seventh district Muskegon County board race for which James J. Derezinski and Ron Hayward will once again face off.

The two – both Egelston Township residents -- have met twice before and both times Derezinski has won. They will compete this time in the Democratic primary for a chance to run in the general election for a two-year term. Republican candidate Alan Jager does not have a primary opponent.

Both Derezinski and Jager are current county commissioners who are running for the same board seat as the result of a redistricting that downsized the county board districts. The reorganized seventh district covers Holton, Cedar Creek, Egelston, Moorland and Casnovia townships.

The candidates

Derezinksi, 65, of 11 Wolf Lake, has served 10 years on the county board. He was Egelston Township clerk from 1975 to 1990 and served six years on the Muskegon Community College Board of Trustees during the 1990s.

He is a retired teacher and business manager for Oakridge Public Schools and has a master’s degree in school administration from Central Michigan University. He also was a staff sergeant for the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division during the Vietnam War.

Derezinski is a founding board member for Muskegon Bike Time and the Hot Rod Power Tour and is a board member for the Muskegon County Department of Veterans Affairs.

Hayward, 59, of 45 N. Michigan, is a factory worker for West Michigan Spring and Stamping and is owner of Hayward Enterprises, a chimney cleaning and repair business. He previously worked as a police officer for 13 years and as a firefighter for eight years, six of those as fire chief.

He has served on the Egelston Township Zoning Board of Appeals and Parks and Recreation Committee for the past six years, and until last month he served eight years on the Muskegon Wastewater Hunting Regulation Committee.

He is president of the North Ottawa Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation, and started the youth turkey hunt at the wastewater system.

The issues

Derezinksi said his top three priorities if he’s elected are public safety, transparency and service consolidation.

James J. Derezinski

Derezinski said building a new jail is a top issue for him, something he says could be accomplished by locating the facility in an existing building. He does not believe a tax millage would be needed to build a new jail, which he believes should be located adjacent to a relocated juvenile detention facility so the two could share such services as laundry and food service.

Derezinski believes strongly in service consolidation among municipalities, especially in public safety.

“Do we need all the fire chiefs in the county? All the police chiefs we have in the county?” he said. “They’re all little fiefdoms…I do think that has the greatest potential for savings.”

He said the county could help save municipalities money by running payroll and water and sewer billing for all of them, similar to services provided to school districts by the Muskegon Area Intermediate School District.

Hayward said his primary issues are addressing unemployment and improving communications. He said the county should provide more help to businesses that are looking to grow, including grant assistance, and give more priority to local bidders on Muskegon County contracts.

Ron Hayward

“If they were local contractors, the money would stay here in Muskegon,” Hayward said. “That’s the only way the economy is going to get better – if you spend money. If (contractors) live outside the county, it’s not helping us any.”

Hayward agrees that the county needs a new jail, and that the juvenile detention center needs to move closer to Muskegon, but believes careful study needs to go into the appropriate size of the jail. He believes the best way to pay for the jail is to ask voters for a millage.

“The voters are going to have to pay for it somewhere down the line,” he said.

Hayward said the county needs to proceed cautiously on the issue of consolidation, saying if it results in layoffs, that’s “not helping the economy.”

Who’s best?

Derezinksi said he offers significantly more experience than his opponent.

“As times get harder, you need experience and people who know how to get things done,” Derezinski said. “And I think I bring that with me.”

Hayward said he will communicate more with townships, businesses and residents about the county’s business.

When asked what sets him apart from his opponent, Hayward said “honesty, dependability, the willingness to take the extra step to inform people and hear what people say and not think I’m above everybody.”